HP/Armor reskin/rework -> ATP/Chitin + Health Bar | Pathogenic | Page 1

dense heron Jan 2, 2026, 6:36 PM

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This is a huge and crazy idea that would rework the entire hp system, so I know it's probably not going to be a thing. I was just looking at the hp stuff in the dev log that just got posted and had this idea.

I don't really like how everything in the game deals the same amount of damage to you. It's just weird that touching a little purple guy deals the same damage to you as you being blasted with a laser by The Wall. I think it would be cool if instead of having a specific number of hp, you could have an hp bar, where increasing your total hp would make the bar lengthen, and different attacks from different enemies would make your health bar go down different amounts, the smallest enemies dealing the smallest damage, and the largest enemies dealing the largest damage. This also makes giving enemies DOT effect attacks much less devastating and more possible.

Having hearts in the game as pickups to restore your health doesn't really make sense in a bacteria game, so I thought if instead of hearts, you could pick up clumps of ATP that would do the same thing as hearts. Different sized clumps of ATP could restore your health by different amounts. This makes sense to me because the pathogen could use the large amount of stored energy to quickly regenerate their body. I know ATP can't really be stored, no less in clumps, but this is a game with a bacteria who shoots lasers and basically becomes Thor, so I don't think it's a huge problem.

Armor could also be reskinned to Chitin, which would appear as differently sized plates of hard armor-like membrane. This would work exactly the same way as it does now, by adding temporary HP, but now it would be in the form of a white extension to your hp bar. Different sized plates of Chitin would give your different amounts of temporary armor.

If you guys have an idea for something else that would make more sense instead of clumps of ATP, let me know. Just let me know what you all think monocyte_thanks

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Would love any feedback

eager carbon Jan 2, 2026, 7:19 PM

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would be interesting if hp was a bar but armor was still segments that protect you from one hit

dense heron Jan 2, 2026, 8:15 PM

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eager carbon would be interesting if hp was a bar but armor was still segments that protect y...

most of this stuff could be mixed and matched with what we've already got for sure

silent sphinx Jan 2, 2026, 9:48 PM

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yes, i need this in the game, devs please add thiss

dense heron Jan 3, 2026, 1:18 AM

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matt what do you think?

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is it possible for any of this to eventually be in the game?

soft hare Jan 3, 2026, 5:23 AM

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A resprite of the heart/shield pickups does seem necessary. They feel very out of place in such a realistic-themed settibg

eager carbon Jan 3, 2026, 6:49 AM

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mhm with realistic organelles such as missile launchers and tesla coils

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i think iconography is more important than anything at this high a level of abstraction

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that being said i do think armor should be a different shape from hp, could be helpful for colorblind users

autumn bridge Jan 3, 2026, 2:09 PM

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rlly good mechanism, i would love to see it being in game

autumn bridge Jan 4, 2026, 8:27 AM

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next snow Jan 5, 2026, 5:08 PM

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We used to have more organic HP drops, but a lot of people were pretty confused about them, especially on their first playthrough. I think understandability is very important here, that's why we stick with more standard icons.

solar osprey Jan 5, 2026, 5:41 PM

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Yeah it is a roguelike after all

dense heron Jan 5, 2026, 6:38 PM

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I thought maybe they could just be explained during the tutorial

eager carbon Jan 5, 2026, 8:20 PM

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it's best to make the player read as little as possible

dense heron Jan 5, 2026, 8:25 PM

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I guess so

quartz rain Jan 14, 2026, 8:29 PM

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hm

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it is a good idea

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but

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maybe to go further?

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in this game you recive damage quite often

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and heals drops quite often

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so why not add some dynamic healing?

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like in hk or ultrakill

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you could also go for a compromise,and make heart-shaped cells/sugar cubes(glucose is cheap fuel for atp) or something like that

quartz rain Jan 14, 2026, 8:33 PM

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quartz rain like in hk or ultrakill

something like
"on death enemies drop gibs.
you can consume them,but they dissapear quickly.over time,gibs turn into health,but recivieng damage lowers your gib meter

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could also make "internal damage" like in nine sols

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so your dash also has additional set of iframes to it,however,being hit during those iframes deals internal damage to you,which regains over time and can not be lethal.however,reciving normal damage instantely turns all internal damage to normal

#HP/Armor reskin/rework -> ATP/Chitin + Health Bar